Bridge of Imperial Star Destroyer Capitulation.

Tagge and the rest of the bridge crew stared dumbfounded at the tactical screen, their minds briefly not processing the images displayed.

Ships

Massive Ships

Thousands of them.

Or were they even ships at all?

There were several strange variants but all observed vessels looked like twisted organic monsters. The common trait of the void borne forms was a series of large plates that looked eerily like burnt, greenish black bone highlighted by pale milky flesh-like material filling the gaps and joints in the carapace. As a whole they were rough teardrop shaped slabs with a series of tendrils and insectoid limbs clustered along the tapered tail

The larger vessels ranging up to around 8 km, had a similar tapered teardrop shape heavily armoured and sporting a pair of massive tusk like lower jaws giving the appearance of a triangular flower. Even from this distance the sensors could make out grotesque grasping appendages at the tip of the narrow end of the teardrop hull.

But it was the largest vessels that were most unusual and terrifying to everyone's mind. Despite being almost 15 km long the vessels themselves was rather stubby and rotund, giving a brutish and feral impression and Tagge briefly compared it to a purrgil, with a similar outline all but covered in thick, dark plate making the white material appear as scarce fissures of stark white clouding shrouded against a black wall. Near what appeared to be the front end a pair of massive crescent shaped projections grew out and forward like grotesquely oversized insect mandibles. The sides and dorsal ridges were studded with large stubby conical projections.

"GENERAL!" a panicked voice cried out from behind. Tagge turned about to reprimand the speaker for their inability to control themselves only to see he was facing the Inquisitor. His visible eye was wide and darting erratically while his whole body was tense and he appeared on the verge of a psychotic breakdown. Just seeing one of the infamous Jedi hunters in this state almost made Tagge panic himself.

"They sense us! I can feel it! THEM! No. Not it BUT THEM!" The inquisitor shouted. " So many thoughts clawing at my MIND! I feel them! The scratching... So many voices. So much NOISE! Grasping, Chittering, FEEDING! That Damned chittering..." Whatever else the force user sputtered was unintelligible as Tagge made to remove the liability from his bridge.

"Security! Escort the Inquisitor off the bridge and confine him to quarters until he... composes himself!" Tagge bluntly ordered. He was met with a blank stare from the security troopers. Not that Tagge particularly blamed them. Normally to even give an order to a supposedly subordinate or equivalent Inquisitor was a significant risk to that officers career if not life, let alone giving orders to detain one "YOU HEARD ME!". Tagge punctuated, rather more irritably then he would have liked. To his relief the troopers somehow gently grabbed the inquisitors arms and slowly led him off the bridge and his babbling was finally blocked out by the closing doors.

Turning to the situation at hand Tagge observed a large number of the smaller 2 km vessels and nearly a dozen of the massive three pronged vessels break orbit and begin moving towards the Imperial fleet.

"All ships this is General Tagge. All vessels are to immediately prepare to jump back to The Alderaan system. Our punitive fleet is not capable of engaging a fleet of this size on its own. Do not move to engage the enemy force but if they come in range you may open fire. If possible deploy all viper droids and program them to hunker down and observe these... Things."

To Tagge's alarm the unknown vessels were rapidly closing in. He had never encountered anything outside of hyperspace move that fast. "Give me an ETA on our jump and when the enemy vessels will be in firing range"

First to respond was the combat scanner "ETA... 8 minutes"

"That's too soon, we'll need at least 11 minutes to jump considering we need to do the pre-prep calcs as well" Came the reply from the hyperdrive operator.

Tagge nodded and looked back to the approaching fleet. "give me a report on the Viper droid deployment"

"The fleet has approximately 17 of our total 49 droids deployed. Most are set for live transmissions but 19 are programmed for delayed transmissions following observation over a given period of time in case they can be tracked.

For over a minute Tagge watched and waited. There were no hails, nor radio traffic of any kind picked up from the approaching aberrations. They simply stayed true on their apparent intercept course. Then abruptly they banked hard to the right in a sort of jink before resuming course. It made no sense to Tagge. Until it hit him that he was not facing a known ship design and thus they may not have followed standard weapon configurations of warships. His thoughts were confirmed by the Combat Scanner.

"Incoming" the combat scanner operator called out, confirming the Generals suspicions of broadside weapons. Tagge noted the approaching projectiles, fired from far beyond his turbolaser range. The projectiles were far too large to be basic turbolasers. A thought confirmed by the combat scanner "Sir, it looks like some sort of plasma volley! BRACE!"

The massed impact hammered the vessels of the fleet. Aboard the Capitulation Tagge and the rest of the crew shuddered under the impact. "Report!" Tagge barked.

"Shields holding at 59%" the shield technician responded shakily.

"WHAT!" Tagge was at a loss. An Imperial class ship could withstand the weapon batteries from multiple rebel Mon Calamari capital ships for the duration of an engagement, often for several minutes or even hours on end. To be so badly weakened by a single broadside was unheard of.

"Sir were receiving transmissions from whats left of the fleet. We've lost all 5 of the Bayonet cruisers. Of the other cruisers Wanderlust and Reverant are crippled and dead in space while the Murmillo and Krayt report being heavily damaged but still operable. Lawbringer, Arbites, and Constituance are reporting lost shields but minimal da-"

before the crewman could could continue another series jolt rocked the vessel. from the viewscreen the shields failed as strange dark objects impacted the hull leaving marred and cracked armour.

"Where did those come from?"

"Must have been fired shortly after the plasma which shielded it from our scans. It did minimal damage to us but a couple got lodged in the decks. No explosives detected."

Before Tagge could ponder the strange projectiles he heard the much awaited Hyperdrive report.

"Sir were green for Hyperspace jump!" The Helmsman reported.

"Do it!" Tagge yelled. To his immense relief the abnormal masses of the enemy fleet were abruptly replaced by the blue white glow of hyperspace. now that immediate death was on the back burner he began his assessment of the fleet.

The immediate report form damage control was not reassuring "Those last few impacts were projectile based, they punched through the shields and numerous foreign bodies are embedded throughout the ship. Our shields are down and we're leaking atmosphere from 7 locations in the hanger, decks 4, 5, and 8. Our shield generators are heavily damaged and will require refits and it looks like storage bay 3A was destroyed."

"Get the engineers moving to patch up what they can. Whats the status of the vipers?" Tagge ordered

"We launched all 8 of ours but no information on the rest of the fleet." Still trying to contact.

"Understood. tell the engineers to preserve as much of the projectiles as they can. some samples would be of great interest to the eggheads".

Deck 8: Damage control team Bravo-126

Engineer Cregan Meln cursed as he made his way through the twisted remains of the corridor. The scale of the damage was a disappointing shock to someone expecting an easy shift. First he and the rest of his Damage control team been launched flat on their asses by a massive impact less then 100 meters away from them then they been told of the extensive damage and overtime work they'd have to pull following analysis of the mystery weapon as they returned to the Alderaan System. He'd joined damage control primarily because he had thought it would be easy work and a career of endless drills and down time. After all how many rebel ships could even take down the shields of a star destroyer, let alone cause heavy damage assuming an admiral with half a neuron under their stupid hat...

"Meln! quit your daydreaming and pick up the pace!" Team Leader Hisolm barked.

Broken from his thoughts Meln scrambled to up to the rest of his 12 man squad as they pushed further into the wreckage designating droids to seal the minor atmosphere leaks as they went. Though it would be hopeless for the team to fix the impact site they were to repair what they could as they advanced to the projectile and acquired samples if they could, then begin long term damage control once the mystery object had been observed.

After half hour of work in their small section Bravo-126 had finally reached the projectile. Just looking at it made Meln shiver. It was massive, almost the size of a Lambda shuttle and far more massive when one discounted the wings of the imperial craft. It appeared to be a large orb of flesh covered with some sort of exoskeleton on the front and sides. From the rear of the projectile strange tendrils lay coiled and shredded in loose piles.

"Alright lets get what we can from this thing" Hisolm called out. In response engineers Desuza and Salan carefully approached the projectile. while Meln activated his helmet cam.

"Almost looks like it's alive, or at the very least was." remarked Salan as he procured an arc cutter. As he was about to apply it to the strange ordinance it suddenly shivered.

"The Fuck!" Salen cried out jumping back. Some of the shell like plates on the object had shifted revealing a quivering sack of flesh with a sphincter in the middle. Suddenly the sphincter quickly opened and several large masses spilled out.

Before Meln could get a good look at one he heard a shrill scream from Desuza. Turning he saw his teammate lying on his back with a strange green and white mass on his chest.

The mass turned out to be a dog sized beast Meln had never seen before in his life. It was a long, low-slung emaciated looking beast with a squat head and a long tail. It had six limbs . 2 rear legs with feet that resembled hooves, a pair of limbs ending in four fingered limbs that looked as though they could act as feet or hands immediately in front of those, and finally a pair of limbs ending in a massive foot long scythe of bone. The beast was similar to the pod it had emerged from. Mostly white milky coloured skin but a large dark green shell of bonelike material formed its back and a large portion of the beasts head. It had baleful yellow eyes and a short but large jaw filled with needlelike teeth

The beast in question was currently attempting to stab its large claws into Desuzas chest. Repeatedly.

Meln snapped out of his stupor and grabbed a large chunk of wreckage. As he approached Desuza he wound his arms back to swing. A hefty smack sent the beast sprawling. Leaning over to check on Desuza he saw most of the stabs had been ineffective on his protective uniform plating but 2 had found gaps in the abdominal and neck joints. Desuza's screams became gargled then silent.

"Boarders! the projectiles are some sort of boarding craft" Meln called into the comm. Turning he sought to find the rest of the team and make their escape

He saw only more strange creatures. nine of them were the same he had hit off Desuza but three of them were different.

They were massive, easily 3 meters tall standing on 2 legs and they had to crouch to fit in the corridor. They had the same pattern of white skin and dark green shell carapace but these beasts had far more extensive armour, covering most of their large elongate heads, backs, and part of the upper chest and upper legs resembling baroque warrior armour Meln had seen in museums. On the torso large plate-like ribs seemed to form a makeshift armour that appeared thinner then the green plate but much more flexible. The three beasts each seemed to have different arm limbs, though all had four like their smaller counterparts. two of the beasts had large crescent blades similar to the smaller beasts for upper limbs and nominally similar four fingered lower limbs but they appeared embedded in a strange flesh coloured conical protrusion with a large blunt downward pointing bit. hoses even seemed to connect the off hand to the rear of the blaster shaped growth. The third had a similar but larger and more complex blaster lookalike most notable for the bone ridge extending down the centre and an offset in the barrel that caused the top to overhang the bottom in its lower hands and a growth terminating in a barb near the "receiver" while its upper arms terminated in what looked like a hand melted and fused to a large bone coloured sabre with a relatively flat end as opposed to a tapered point and a massive cable of flesh that forked near the end, terminating in a pair of barbs. It also sported a more elaborate head armour then its peers.

At the feet of the beasts lay the tattered scraps of what had once been his co-workers.

Meln screamed and turned toward the exit. As he did a heavy impact threw him forward and he fell on his side. Before he could react he felt a burning pain like he was being ripped apart. Numbly he looked towards his abdomen to see a tangled mess of vine like growths rip their way through his flesh and suit. within seconds they had covered the width of the entire corridor with his remains.

The sword beast roared as the smaller beasts skittered towards the corridor like eager hounds followed by baleful huntsmen.

The viewscreen showing Meln's last moments cut to a schematic of the ship with eleven red dots showing the suspected boarding areas as the Platoon Leader spoke up.

"As you can see there are at least eleven potential intrusions for the unknowns. Each pod seems to contain up to 20 of the smaller forms The hostiles seem to primarily consist of some sort of strange war beasts led by a small number of the larger targets that we assume are responsible for this attack. As the big ones seem to have ranged weapons and presumably the intelligence to use them they will be the primary targets but don't hesitate to blast a mutt if they show themselves. The larger gunned commander forms are the primary targets as those vine area weapons will be devastating in close confines. We're going to be eliminating this pod first before pushing on to the hanger, where we anticipate the highest enemy concentrations and linking up with other forces. Once the hanger is cleared we will split into kill teams and attempt to corner and flank the hostiles present in corridors. Move out!"

-O-

"Contact"

Squad Commander Herron Fel quickly backpedalled to the wall of the corridor as the shriek of automatic weapon fire streaked past the opening. Peeking out he saw the smaller beasts and the sword user scampering towards his forces while the two remaining larger ones provided suppression with their strange weapons.

Leaning out he took a few potshots at the advancing smaller forms before being forced back into cover. On the other side of the hallway the troops weren't so lucky. with three troopers falling to their backs spasming viciously before going still. Fel peeked out again, aiming to take out the big ones. His blaster bolts impacted the creatures armoured head and chest.

To his horror it didn't even flinch. Fel ducked quickly and narrowly missed being hit by the strange vine cannon . It flew to the next intersection. From the screaming he heard the beast had landed a hit. Suddenly a smaller beast rounded the corner and leapt at Fel's face. Raising his blaster he caught the beast and deflected it to the side though the force of impact had knocked him backwards. Before either foe could leap again and finish their enemy off one of Fels squad mates had managed to shoot the small critter. Relieved, Fel backed off to reload his blaster pack. As he finished he saw another trooper approach his firing position.

As the trooper leaned out a massive blade erupted clean through his back. The larger beast had made it to the intersection. A hail of blaster fire from both sides covered the beast. This time staggering it but not overly slowing it down.

Then it fired.

Fel nearly panicked as he saw the troops on the other side of the intersection get torn to shreds by the fast growing vines. The beast advanced on his position, slashing and lashing out with its melee weapons that punched through standard trooper armour with ease. Then it suddenly stopped short of him and collapsed backwards. A large burn centred around the ruined crater of it's left eye

"T-Target down"

Fel turned to the speaker, a fresh private he couldn't remember, who's hands were still shaking.

"You planning on applying for squad marksman private, you want Gobrals post?" Fel quipped.

"N-No sir"

"I meant that as a compliment. Good shot son."

As the private nodded more troopers pushed up intent of dropping the remaining advancing forms. They were instantly jumped by the remaining smaller creatures. They died quickly to blaster fire but not before four more troopers lay dead.

The the remaining larger forms rounded the corner.

Fel and several soldiers dove into a maintenance corridor a split second before the shooting started. Fel readied a thermal detonator. With a call of "Grenade Out!" Fel threw it just outside the doorway. A loud shriek accompanied the explosion. Peeking out Fel saw one beast motionless in a crumpled heap, most of it's upper body vaporised. The other was curled on the floor stabbing wildly with its talons. Its front half burned and scarred. Fel approached to just outside its stabbing range and tried shooting it in the head but he hit intact armour and it only responded with more frantic stabbing that forced the Sargent back a couple steps

What are these things made of Fel thought as he took careful aim and fired at the creatures face. He was rewarded with the creatures shrieks dying and the frantic stabbing reduced to twitching like a stunned fish.

He turned to survey the troops as they slowly emerged from cover. Of the 5 squads sent to stop this intrusion one had been wiped completely and the remaining squads had been reduced to half strength or less. In all almost 35 soldiers killed in exchange for 13 enemies.

Hell of a trade Fel thought. Though they had learned vital lessons form this firefight.

"Okay we move as planned to the hangers. Focus the big ones first. Whatever they've got for armour is damn good but it doesn't cover everything. Aim for the face, limbs, lower torso, and joints. They seem especially vulnerable to thermal detonators but standard rules for grenades in enclosed spaces apply."

"No Fucking Way"

Fel turned to the speaker, a dischevelled trooper covered in bloodstains. "We have our orders"

"I don't care. Did you see what these things did to us? I don't-

"By the emperor if we don't stop these things they're going to butcher the crew by the thousands."

"So what, we need to escape while we can"

"Escape where?, we're in hyperspace you shithead."

"They said we were after ill trained Rebels They never said anything about blaster proof monsters that rip you to shr-" The dissenting trooper fell silent as Fel's e-11 rose to his head.

"That's enough out of you Trooper. Fall. In. Line."

The trooper stared "Bu-"

"These things can be killed, Look at them. I said LOOK AT THEM!" Fel gestured to the corpses. The uneasy trooper slowly turned to the dead brutes. "I understand your scared. Frankly I' terrified as well but we are Stormtroopers. We are the hammer of the Empire. We are Disciplined. And we Do. Not. Abandon. Our. Duty. If we don't stop them nothing will. And if you dare derelict your duty I'll shoot you myself here and now. Understood?"

"Y-Yes sir."

"Good." Fel lowered his weapon. "We link up with the rest of the platoon at the hanger and proceed as planned.

-O-

"Alright lets take this slow. Keep your heads down and advance slowly. We should have fewer problems here then in the corridor as long as we don't let them get close and keep the shooters suppressed."

With that the remnants of squad 2 raced through the door and took up positions on the catwalk overlooking the hanger. Three pods had crashed through, destroying several vehicles and creating a myriad of cover. It seemed the present contingent of troopers and auto turrets had largely kept the aliens stuck in cover near their pods.

"About time" Fel turned to the company leader addressing him. "I need your men to flank around these bastards while we keep em suppressed, We got a ton of the little guys but those big ones are a pain to shift"

Fel nodded and called to his men. Flanking around to the aft catwalk they approached a wrecked AT-AT. Suddenly a group of the smaller beasts clambered on top. Even from this distance Fel saw something was off with these creatures. Then he realised it.

They didn't have the large scythe tipped front limbs. And the smaller pair was hooked up to something similar to the ranged weapons the larger creatures had used

"Take Cover" Fel called as the smaller creatures let loose with what appeared to be a cut down version of the fast firing weapons weapon used by the larger beasts. As Fel peeked out to return fire he saw most of the creatures had taken cover behind the wreckage.

"Careful. These mutts have firearms and know how to use them" Fel called out. A tense exchange of fire continued until a trooper managed to get a thermal detonator into the beasts cover. Again Fel was surprised. They had all broke cover and attempted to make a run for another patch or wreckage. Though they were gunned down in the process it spoke disturbingly to the intelligence and capabilities of "mere hunting dogs".

"Alright lets send these bastards back to whatever pit they crawled fr-" Fel was interrupted when one of the pods suddenly started shaking. unlike the others it appeared that it had not released it's cargo.

"Hah, great timing, blast whatever comes out of that pod" Fel called out. Lining up and peeking from their cover over a dozen barrels aimed squarely at the shaking pod. Suddenly a scythe claw punches through it before ripping clean through the pod.

A scythe far too large for any of the observed forms.

"Uhhh commander."

Before the trooper could finish his thought a new monster burst from the pod. Unlike the others this form was very thickset and appeared hunched under the weight of the enormous green armour slabs that completely covered the beasts head and back. Three pairs of chimney-like growths of armour grew from the creatures back and a long tail tipped with a pair of short spines extended behind the beast. Even with it's hunched stance it stood 5 meters tall at the hip. Its long, muscular front four limbs each ended with a massive blade as long as it was tall. Its head was relatively wide and rounded with torso armour overhanging the neck and the front of the bulky head covered with rounded armour. As it turned to face the bulk of the suppressing stormtroopers a sickly green glow appeared to emanate from its mouth.

"Fire!" Fel yelled. To his horror the bolts left little more then insignificant scorch marks.

Ignoring the ineffective fire the beast gave a deafening roar as it advanced towards the horrified troopers, the green glow becoming overpowering.